However, there was a drop of 56 officers over the last quarter following the creation of a single police force across Scotland.

Scotland now has 17,258 officers - an increase of 6.3% on the 2007 total.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: "This government is continuing to deliver on our commitment to keep over 1,000 extra officers to keep our streets safe and contribute to an almost 40 year-low in recorded crime.

"The number of additional police numbers is now moving towards 1,000, keeping costs down while continuing to exceed our target."

He added: "This contrasts with the position in England and Wales where officer numbers are now at their lowest level in 11 years and expected to drop by more than 15,000 in total."

These numbers do not include regional resources in the east (939), west (1,364) and north (584). These include major investigation teams, forensics, e-crime, serious and organised crime units and counter-terrorism.

Nor do they include the 1,363 officers counted as "national" resources, including specialist crime division, intelligence, training, air support, mounted police, motorcycle cops and mountain rescue.